My current Japanese guide/teacher had to call it quits. She got her son (the youngest) in to a Japanese school here in the Sacramento area, and the tutoring she'll have to do to keep him in the school will eat all her time.
But she hooked me up with a new guide/teacher. They were talking about my skills and progress I made while I was with the previous teacher -- in Japanese, of course. I was desperately trying to keep up with the conversation, as it was casual, quick, and idiomatic. Then I realized -- although I'd understood they were referring to me for a while, that they had been using "kanojo" rather than 'kare' (car-ray). 'Kanojo' is the Japanese equivalent of 'her' or 'the woman (we're referring to)'.
I've also ended up with several girlfriends since the realization spread that I'm the latest trans-woman to grace this base. Not all the attention is bad.
Karen
